Outdoor umbrellas, such as table umbrellas, beach umbrellas and the like, are popular for daytime activities, but can create shadows underneath that take away from their productive use. Furthermore, large table umbrellas, and beach umbrellas are often left in up positions after dark, which makes the space underneath difficult to illuminate. Providing artificial illumination sources such as candles, are easy to use, but must be handled with care since the flames can burn the umbrella. Popular electrically powered lights such as those formed from stringing electrical lines to power small lights and the like, can also be difficult to use, and are not practical in outdoor environments that have no power supplies in close proximity to the umbrellas.
Over the years various light sources have been proposed for lighting umbrellas. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,837,255 to Bunch et al. and 7,000,624 to Chang, and U.S. patent applications Ser. No.: 2002/0074027 to Maidment.
The Bunch '255 patent and Chang '624 Published patent application and Maidment '027 published patent application each describes umbrellas with light sources, that requires electrical lines and the light sources be inserted into rib support arms and poles of an umbrella, where the light sources must be carefully inserted into the umbrella parts, and are not easily removable.
U.S. Published patent application Ser. No. 2006/0227540 to Sohn describes a removable clip type light. However, the Sohn publication requires the use of batteries which would not last for long time periods and would need replacement over time. Additionally, the lights point forward, and would not be useful for lighting an area beneath an umbrella. Additionally, the clip part of the light is not expandable and would only be able to slide about a narrow material, such as a hat visor, which is described as an intended use of this light.
Still furthermore, the light sources referenced above are fixed, and cannot be moved to adjust the light beam once the lights are installed in place.
The inventor is not aware of apparatus, devices and methods that overcome all the problems listed above. Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems with the prior art.